This woman's pulled skin makeup tutorial is the stuff of nightmares — but you won't be able to look away

British makeup artist Courteney Jackson posted a selfie that has gone viral.

In the photo, Jackson looks like she is pulling off her skin.

This is just an optical illusion she created using makeup.

With Halloween months (and months) behind us, I thought I could safely scroll through my Instagram Explore page without being thoroughly creeped out by someone's special effects makeup. However, special effects makeup turns out to be a year-round affair, and one look, in particular, is stirring up some controversy. British makeup artist Courteney Jackson posted a selfie of herself seemingly pulling her skin off her face. (I repeat, pulling her skin off of her face.) Upon closer inspection, you'll quickly notice it's all the result of some seriously advanced makeup skills.

Jackson spent two hours, as she tells Allure, putting together the pulled-skin look. "What inspired me was actually a drawing that I did a while back, and I thought I would try to experiment and see how creative I can be with my makeup skills," she says. She shared her colored pencil drawing with me, and colors aside, her IRL interpretation is pretty spot-on.

On the right side of her face, Jackson applied her makeup as per usual with a hot pink shadow look. (In case you were wondering which lashes she used, they're Lavaa Lashes' 3D Mink Eyelashes in Mischief.) For the left, she employed her special effects makeup skills to craft prosthetic skin, which was fashioned out of an old bald cap. "I just cut it to the shape of one side of my face, then stuck it using spirit gum down the center of my face," she explains.

When all was said and done, she posted the now-viral selfie on her Instagram. "At first, I actually didn't like the outcome of it, but posted it to see how people would react to it," Jackson says. Well, react they did. The selfie has since been liked almost 30,000 times, and the comments section quickly filled up. Jackson says she absolutely didn't expect the response she has received.

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People have inevitably made references to Future's song "Mask Off" and praised her skills. "I'm shook" makes dozens of appearances in the comments section. However, some have some not-so-positive thoughts regarding the look. Dudes are especially pressed about it, making stale jokes about the look being proof that girls are fake and this is the reason why they don't trust women.

Well, I don't trust them for not being able to acknowledge the artistry of Jackson's look. She had even less time for the negativity and had the perfect response for them: "It's called special effect makeu p. I'm being creative. You really think I'm going to walk the streets looking like that? Maybe start worrying about yourself rather than what other people are doing. I can do what I want. And if I want to wear 'loads' of makeup, then I sure as hell will."

Preach.

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